The Missionary Theology of D. T. Niles
Joon-Sik Park
Methodist Theological School in Ohio
Introduction
Daniel Thambyrajah Niles (1908–1970)—a Ceylonese by birth and a Tamil by race—
was a prominent evangelist, an acute mission theologian, and an ecumenist with deep local roots.
In his foreword to Niles’s Upon the Earth, Lesslie Newbigin wrote:
Niles is an evangelist who is also a profound thinker, a theologian who can commend his
Saviour effectively to others. . . . [And] his ministry is both local and ecumenical.
Perhaps this is his most important qualification to speak to us at this moment. . . . What
he says in an ecumenical setting has been tested again and again in the ordinary
responsibilities of a local congregation.1
